


Seeing each other 3700 years later

by JinlaJin



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Romance, F/M, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, Multi, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smart Is The New Sexy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21702547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinlaJin/pseuds/JinlaJin
Summary: Kohaku was the assistant of world famous 19 year old CEO Ishigami Senku. She was excited for her normal day at her job before the entire world was petrified that very day.
Relationships: Ishigami Senkuu & Everyone, Ishigami Senkuu/Kohaku, Ogawa Yuzuriha/Ooki Taiju
Comments: 13
Kudos: 91





	1. Petrification

**Author's Note:**

> There isn't much Senhaku fics out there and its kinda sad, but I deliver!

Kohaku walked through the bustling streets of Tokyo, in sneakers and proper navy blue pants with a pure white shirt adorned her curvy body. She tried to ignore the shocked faces of the individuals around her, mostly males. She sighed as she adjusted her purse. She was glad she have decided to wear something more simple. She shook her thoughts off as she reached her destination and walked through the sliding doors. She checked in and went to her boss' office.

Ishigami Senku.

He was the young, very smart, too successful CEO of the company Ishigami tech. They were widely known for their scientists and very advanced technology that has hugely upgraded the world from major dangers that threatened to extinct humanity. And Kohaku, was the lucky person to be that very same person's assistant. She had to admit, even if her boss puts her through hell every day, it is fun at the end. Not to mention the pay was well enough to pay her rent, bills and plenty of food for herself. She walked through the long hallways that was adorned with many awards, medals, trophies, many very important awards that Kohaku didn't bother reading.

She arrived to his office and opened the door, walking to her desk to set her stuff somewhere and turned to her boss, who was currently looking through something on microscope.

"Good morning, Mr. Ishigami." Kohaku said, giving a smile as she grabbed a lab coat, putting it on and stood next to the distracted male. Kohaku studied Senku's face while he was busy.

She didn't say this out loud, but Senku was a very handsome man, his red eyes complimented his hair color, though she could not say much of how its styled. She wanted to ask how much gel or hair spray he puts to keep it up, but she didn't want to come off as rude.

"Mornin'," he replied giving a slight wave without averting his eyes away from the magnifier. Kohaku glanced down at the sample.

It was a tiny piece of stone.

"Mr. Ishigami, may I ask why you are inspecting a piece of stone?" She asked, confused. He raised his head up and took a bigger piece of stone from his pocket, "there was this phenomenon happening with birds yesterday, mainly swallows. Few of my co-workers found these stoned statues of these birds on the ground and bushes. I am seeing if these were actual live birds and what type of stone material this is." He said, showing Kohaku a full statue of a swallow. She looked in awe.

"What have you found?" She asked, giving the stone slight pokes. Senku scratched his head and sighed, "The stone has the same materials as one of a regular stone, but it has a handful of DNA there and what I'm confirming is that these birds were somehow turned to stone by a device. Though I can't seem to figure out what." He put the swallow on the shelf near him and went to the coffee maker.

"I'll probably find a way to turn it back, I just need to find what to exactly use to best decay the stone without hurting the organism itself." Kohaku walked over to him and made his coffee.

"It is very interesting though, I think that you could do something to bring them back." She said handing him his coffee. "Thank you. Though I am questioning why it only happened to swallows. It just makes no sense-" Senku was interrupted by a bright green light.

"What's happening?" Kohaku asked, panicked.

"I don't know but watch out!" Senku grabbed her and held her close, the last she could see was pure darkness.

And then she awoke again 3700 years later.


	2. Out of Petrification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kohaku and Senku both get out of petrification.

Kohaku

It was so dark. Kohaku managed to stay awake, though her consciousness threatens to slip away, she regains it by remembering what happened those last moments... is that Mr. Ishigami took hold of her and held her close… Wait. He held her! Kohaku would have blushed at that thought if she knew just why she couldn't move and how much time had passed.

I hope Mr. Ishigami is okay…

Kohaku couldn't exactly see what happened to him after she froze and lost all feeling to the world, but she hoped nothing happened to him. The issue at hand though is what made her like this, did it happen to Mr. Ishigami and everyone else? How long will this last? Her thoughts kept flooding in, fighting to keep her awake. She felt like crying, the burden of not being able to do anything, say anything was huge, all she could do was think. Maybe some counting will help her pass the time.

1… 2… 3… 4… 5…

Several hundred numbers later, she'd lost count. Maybe she should sleep a bit… No! She kept her eyes wide open, she looked around the darkness searching for a light, anything.

This is taking too long… Kohaku kept her thoughts lingering.

Senku

The fact that this happened to humanity too… this really did prove my theory right then. The green light caused some sort of reaction with us. So this has happened to humans and swallows. Has it happened to other species or just specifically us? Can't lose count. 19017468… 19017469… 19017470… Senku thought. 7 months have passed since the petrification of humanity. He hasn't been able to see a speck of light since the day that green light appeared. He'd tried everything. From using sheer willpower to break out to just straight out lashing. But he couldn't move a single muscle. Senku gave up and continued counting. 1901523… 1901524…

3700 years later

5738, April 1st.

Crack.

Pieces of stone of all sizes fell off Kohaku's body, her eyes getting adjusted to the too bright world around her. She tried moving but felt restricted. She looked at her side and saw her petrified boss, Mr. Ishigami keeping hold of her. She quickly looked down to see that she was in her birthday suit.

"AAAAAA!!" She screamed covering her private parts, hoping she didn't show too much of herself to her boss. She didn't cover much due to her boss having his arms wrapped around her chest so she kept some dignity with her. She recovered quickly as she stared at her surroundings, she was in a cave, but when she looked a few feet ahead of her she saw green grassy-ness. It was beautiful. The modern world she was used to was nothing compared to what she was witnessing.

"Where am I?..." She whispered, before looking down and seeing the horror before her. There were people who were just in the same situation as Mr. Ishigami and swallows. Some were perfectly intact, while others… were broken apart. She gasped. "N-no… so it did happen to everyone else…" She felt tears coming out.

She wept, not giving a care about her nudity. She lay there for hours. Before hearing a crack beside her. She removed her arm from her swollen eyes and glanced at her side. She saw Senku's bright red eyes. His were as wide as hers were. It only took a few seconds before his body was fully free and in his full glory.

Kohaku felt herself feel lighter as she let more tears come out, "Mr. Ishigami!" She took hold of him and hugged him as tight as she could, forgetting that they were both currently naked. She cried, holding him until Senku let out, "Ahem. Nice to see you too Kohaku. But take a look down." She suddenly remembered. She scrambled away from him away from him blushing fiercely.

"I-I'm so-sorry Mr. Ishigami! I was just overcome with emotions!" She sputtered, averting her eyes away from his standing form. Senku looked around, noticing a set of sleeping bats above him.

"A cave huh? Today is April 1st. The year 5738. 117,254,893,870 seconds have passed. Looks like the both of us got out of petrification at the same day." He inspected the dripping liquid that was near them. Kohaku looked up at Senku, keeping her eyes away from his groin. She ignored his muttering and stared at some rocks that were very interesting at the moment.

"D-don't you care that you're buck naked at the moment, Mr. Ishigami?" She whispered, loud enough for her boss to hear. He chuckled.

"We're back to 205,000 years ago, when the first modern humans appeared. No one will give a damn if your tits are out or if our dicks' hanging out." He replied, scratching his ear in disinterest. She grew extremely red, having to hear her boss say that.

"I don't have a dick- urgh. Can we at least have some clothes?" She asked, standing up to walk out of the cave. Senku followed her, grabbing a sharp rock and walking to a tree nearby. Kohaku looked ahead of him and saw that he was writing something.

"What are you doing?" She said, wary to get closer to him. He turned around and bore his red eyes into her blue ones. "Writing the date. Today will mark 0 A.D. Everything starts from now." He replied, going back to writing.

"Oh." She said, "uh... By the way, how do you know the exact date?" She said, grabbing some long leaves and some vines to tie around her waist and chest. She flinched as she saw Senku right beside her, "counted." He grabbed some leaves and vines too and wrapped them around his hips. Kohaku turned her back on him and continued working on adjusting the makeshift bra she made, though it looks like a tube top bra made out of leaves. She finished and walked around, finding a broken up stone statue near her, she looked at it sadly. She looked for the woman's missing pieces and tried her best to bring her back to her original look.

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Kohaku clasped her hands together, sending a quick prayer before standing up. "Should probably also give a prayer to those other billions of people who were broken up during these 3700 years too, Kohaku." Senku suddenly said, scaring Kohaku.

"Ah! Mr. Ishigami! Please don't scare me like that!" She said, holding one hand over her chest, breathing heavily. He smiled, "Senku." He said. She looked at him.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"Just call me Senku. Last names don't seem to matter anymore in this stone world." He said, looking over to the deeper sides of the forest.

"But Mr. Ishigami you're my boss-"

"I'm not the CEO of Ishigami tech anymore Kohaku. That title went away back in 2023." He said, grabbing some wood, sticks, rocks, anything he could find. Kohaku looked at him before going to help him, she opened her mouth to say something.

"Okay, Senku." She grabbed whatever she could handle and followed him deeper into the forest. Senku stopped for a moment, before staring up at the trees. Kohaku glanced up and saw monkeys. They were looking at them with incredulous looks. Kohaku smiled and gave a wave, the monkeys screamed and swung away, leaving an echo of their yelling.

"That's strange… it's like they've never seen a human before…" Kohaku said. She rubbed her chin and continued on her way, looking back at Senku who was lost in thought.

"Seems like they've only seen statues of us, they're surprised that we're not hairy like they are. We're like aliens to them." He said, walking beside her.

"Huh…" Kohaku said, looking up where the monkeys last stood.

"In all likeness, we're both the first to be reborn here at earth. The first smooth shiny monkeys." He said, chuckling. Kohaku paled, "could you not phrase us like that?" She said, blushing lightly. It was silent.

"Then we're the Adam and Eve of the stone world." He took hold of the nape of his neck and messaged it, leaving a 'pop' sound. Kohaku sighed.

"Not that either!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed it! It was longer than the last chapter 😅


	3. Conquering fire!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Senku and Kohaku acquired two things!

After Kohaku somehow convinced Senku to just call them the first two modern humans on a futuristic earth, they went straight to work. She grabbed sticks and a large enough log after Senku surprisingly found out that she was stupidly strong.

"Lioness."

"What did you just call me?" Kohaku said, suddenly getting flashback from her high school life, when her friends teased her with that same nickname.

"Your nickname will be lioness. It matches you and your strength." Senku said, giving her a smug look. Kohaku clenched her fists.

"Don't call me lioness or else I'll-" She stopped from calling him leekhead. He was her previous boss after all. Senku stared at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence.

"Nevermind." She gave out. She went out to get more logs and after a bit, was waiting patiently beside Senku, who was making some sort of fire with the sticks and a log she brought. She looked away from him as she heard some coos up in the trees. She looked up and saw those same monkeys that ran away from them. She opened her mouth, but instead gave a poke to Senku, who was struggling. He looked at her, Kohaku pointed up at the monkeys, trying not to be too obvious.

"Ah look who it is, the monkeys." Senku smirked, watching as the monkeys looked at them curiously. Kohaku facepalmed, so much for being low-key.

"Kuku… Behold, the power of a smooth and shiny ape!" Senku grabbed the stick and rubbed the end of it with the log. Kohaku sweatdropped at Senku's very determined face.

30 minutes passed and Senku was sprawled out on the floor, clearly exhausted. Kohaku couldn't help but giggle.

"How the hell am I going to spark a fire in the humid ass air in Japan?!" Senku complained, sitting up, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Well Senku… We 'humans' don't have sharp fangs or claws. So we are kind of stuck here. But maybe I could give it a try?" Kohaku asked, grabbing the stick and scooted herself closer to the log. "Be my guest." Senku said, taking a breather. I nodded and started to rub the stick with the log. 

20 minutes passed with no avail.

"I think you were right Senku… The humid air in Japan couldn't possibly light a fire." Kohaku said, a bead of sweat going down her forehead. 

"Of course, but we could still try other ways. Remember all those rocks we collected?" He said, looking over at the pile of rocks not far from them.

"Yeah… Why?" Kohaku asked, hand on her chin.

"We are making use of them." Senku stood up and grabbed 5 big stones, coming back and setting them next to her. Kohaku stood up and grabbed 8 of them. 

"I get it! We are going to clash them together to create a spark!" She said determinedly. She beamed at Senku before giving a look of confusion. Senku was looking at her like she was some sort of idiot.

"No. We are making weapons. Or hunting materials. How else will we survive?" He said, grabbed two stones and hit them against each other. Kohaku pouted.

"That works too…" she said, slightly embarrassed. She inspected Senku as the first rock broke completely. No chance of making weapons with pebbles. Senku moved the broken pieces and grabbed another rock, repeated the process, but with a different action.

"This is a trial and error to learn the knack of it, it's a good thing you're keeping an eye on how I'm doing this, this will show what not to do or what to do when making weapons." He said, hitting the rock on his hand with the one under him, he hit them in different angles and the rock was forming a poor imitation of a knife, but was looking sharp. After 15 minutes, Senku held up the finished product.

"This rock is known as Chert. It's hard as hell, which is perfect for a small knife." He said, placing the blade next to him. 

"So I'll be making knives?" Kohaku asked, grabbing two stone and sitting next to him. 

"Exactly. We'll just be needing about 3 more at most. I need to do something else." Senku stood up and grabbed the blade, he walked to the pile of sticks and took out the thickest of them, plunging it into the blade.

Senku and Kohaku acquired weapons! (Poorly made but they work.)

Senku walked into a patch of vines. He chopped them and took hold of them. He walked back to Kohaku and started to separate the vines by using the knife. Kohaku was about to ask what he was making before Senku beat her to it.

"This is the string cheese method." He said. He continued making the rope into a string cheese look without a word. Kohaku turned to continue her own blademaking. After making 2 big blades and a smaller one, she saw Senku twisting the string-like vines together. After a few minutes, he pulled on the vine, which looked similar to a- 

"Rope?" Kohaku said, surprised.

Senku and Kohaku acquired rope!

"Now…" Senku walked to the log and grabbed a curved stick, wrapping the rope on the edges to form a bow. He set the stick on the log and began to move the bow left and right quickly, causing the stick to move around quickly. Therefore, creating smoke at the top of the log.

"Generating heat from the oxidation of gases released from the cellulose. In other words. Combustion." Senku said, blowing slowly onto the generating fire, standing proudly as the fire roared to life. Kohaku stared in awe. "No way…" She inched closer, feeling the warmth of the fire coating her cold-touched skin due to the cold night. Her eyes blurred, oh… how long it has been since she's last seen fire. She glanced at Senku, who was making spears and a knife out of the blades she made.

She was so thankful of him. She… didn't know what she could do without him. Her heart beat was loud in her ears.

"I think… I have a chance to be in love in this new world." She whispered, cheeks warm.

"What?" Senku obnoxiously said, obvious that he didn't hear her well at all.

"Nothing! Just thinking of how nice it is to have fire once again." She said, shaking her flustered face away. No. She can't fall in love with him. He is her boss- well was- but that doesn't matter! Senku didn't seem fazed to the least in romance! He never dated anyone for the sake of science! She did feel a bit disappointed that he didn't have the slightest interest in romance, but it's worth a try? 

"Hey Senku, what's your take in rom-"

"Time to hunt!" Senku interrupted, he spotted a deer, who was curiously looking at them, before walking away. 

Nevermind.

"I'll do the hunting." Kohaku took the spear and took off after the deer. 

How could she be so stupid?


	4. Hunting!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kohaku hunts and Senku makes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll 4 chapters in two days aaaaaaaa

Senku watched as Kohaku scurried off after the deer. He tilted his head, scratching it.

"Wonder what she was saying." He said, he shrugged it off and went to explore the forest. Making an ax will be convenient to cut some trees down to make a small house. Sleeping outside with dangerous animals lurking around is not a risk worth taking. Senku's eyes landed on a tall enough tree. Perfect spot for the house. He smirked, and went to work on the ax.

Kohaku ran after the deer, caught up with it. She gripped the spear and muttered an apology to it before plunging the spear forward, impaling the deer. The deer tripped and wailed in pain. Kohaku closed her eyes, before taking the blade out of it's thigh and aiming it at the chest. "We need you." She muttered before pushing the blade toward the deers heart, killing it instantly. The deer's cries stopped and lay limp. Kohaku grimaced, putting the spear on the backside of her vine belt holding up her leaf skirt. She picked the deer up and trudged back to Senku. 

15 minutes later she arrived and saw Senku sitting using the stones to make something else, and it seemed like he was almost done. She set the deer down, removed the spear from her belt and place it next to the deer. She walks towards Senku and grabs the small knife and rope that was near the boulder that Senku was using, and walked back to the deer.

"You know how to skin?" Senku asked from the boulder. She looked behind and see he was looking.

"Y-Yes, back when I was younger, I lived in the countryside, so I occasionally helped my father with skinning the animals we had for dinners or to sell the fur." She answered, grabbing the deer and taking it to the nearest tree, she tied the rope around its ankles and tied the other end to the branch. She started at one leg, slowly but surely going up to its anus. She cut around it and went back down its other leg. Once she removed both the skin from its legs, she carefully removed the rest of the skin with her hands. 

Like a jacket. She remembers her father's words as she fully removed the deer's skin with no rips. She wonders if her parents and sister didn't break into pieces while being petrified. She couldn't bear that thought... She grabbed the removed skin and walked over to Senku, handing the skin to him.

"You can make your clothes with them. I'll find another one tomorrow and make my own with them." Kohaku said, Senku looked at the skin.

"Okay." Was all he said before grabbing the knife and began with his clothes. She walked away and went back to the deer to remove it's meat.

"By any chance, is there a river nearby Senku?" Kohaku asked, picking the skinless deer up.

"There is, about 5 minutes up north. It's quite late though to go. It's around 6:30 right now." He said, placing his hand on his chin. Kohaku stared at him in shock. He's still counting? "The meat needs to be preserved first or else it will expire. But cleaning the meat is a necessity." He finished. She shook her shock away.

"I just need to clean it, then we can smoke it and cook it." Kohaku said, setting trail for the river, deer on shoulders and knife on hand. She walked for 5 minutes, before hearing the sound of running water. She rushed down to the stream and set the deer on the shallow part of the river. She opened the stomach and chest and took its intestines and organs out. She didn't know if the organs were edible, but she'll take them with her with the meat just in case. She cleaned the cavity in the meat and washed it. Once she was done cleaning and cutting the meat after 30ish minutes, she picked up the pieces and ran back to the spot she and Senku found. She found him with the completed clothes, but they weren't on him and they looked… feminine?

"I made them for you instead. They're not the best at the moment, but you do have more dignity than I do after all." Senku said, taking hold of some of the meat she held. She stared at the clothes in front of her. 

She felt… warm. And not from the fire. She breathed out and placed the meat in the sticks that were provided and set them on top of the fire and quickly walked back to the set of clothes. She held them, feeling excited to wear them.

"I suggest you probably wash off at the river first. You look like you went through the hunger games 3 times." Senku approached her, pointing at her bloody body.

"Oh. Right." She smiled nervously, "I'll see you in a bit, then." She said, waltzing back into the river. She just noticed that she was bloody, guess she unconsciously places her hands on parts of her body. She reached the river once again and quickly removed the leaf skirt and bra, leaving her naked. She jumped into the water excitedly and splashed around happily. She felt like a little girl once again.

"Having some soap or shampoo will be such a blessing at the moment… but this water is enough." Kohaku scrubbed the blood away with her hands. She finished washing herself after a good 15 minutes. She got out of the water and twisted her hair to get rid of excess water. 

"Shoot. No towels in this world is so unfortunate." Kohaku pouted as she looked down at her wet body. Then something was thrown at her face.

"Use some of the leftover deer skin to dry yourself. It works as a good towel." She heard Senku's voice from under the pelt. Her face turned a deep crimson. 

"Senku!" She squealed as she quickly wrapped the fur around her body, she glared at Senku who was standing there with that stupid disinterested expression. 

"Figured you'll probably need something to dry up. So I came to bring you that so you wouldn't have to use your clothes as a towel." He said, turning back to walk back to their camp. Kohaku watched his retreating form.

He thought about me? He never showed much of this side back in the modern world. Kohaku thought, drying herself off and quickly putting the clothes on. It was loose on her.

"Of course he wouldn't know my measurements." She walked back to camp. She saw Senku taking care of the cooking meat. He turned around and she then saw the rope he was holding out, "I didn't know what your measurements were, so use this rope as a belt around your waist." He said, she walked up to him and grabbed it, wrapping the rope around her waist and tied it ribbon style.

"By the way, the meat will be ready in approximately 3 minutes, so I'll call you when it's ready. I made a leaf bedding along with a blanket from the leftover deer fur and two pillows made out of leaves so we can rest up the night." Senku announced, yawning a bit. She looked around and saw that he was right, there was a leaf bedding with a blanket and two pillows.

"So… we'll be sleeping together?" Kohaku muttered, narrowing her eyes at Senku.

"There wasn't much skin left to make two blankets. So this is all what I could do." Senku shrugged, narrowing his own eyes back at her. She blanked out. She stood there for a good two minutes.

"That's fine." She said. She was trembling a bit and red faced.

It wasn't fine. She thought about romancing him two hours ago! It'll be awkward and tense and what if she does something weird- 

"Don't get all worked up. It'll just be for today. Tomorrow we'll hunt more and maybe start with a small house." Senku said, smirking at her blushing face.

"I'm not getting worked up! I'm just chilly, it is cold today." She sputtered, walking to the fire pretending to be warming herself up.

"Mhm." Senku muttered, he took the meat out of the fire. "Looks like I didn't have to call you out. Now to wait for the meat to cool." He placed the meat on a small mat he made out of the deer's legs. He stood up and stretched, going to grab a knife. Kohaku moved from her spot and sat down on the blanket. She looked up at the starry sky.

The night sky really does look different without the city lights covering them. She thought, smiling sadly at the memories of the past. She stared until Senku got her out of trance 5 minutes later, announcing the food was ready for eating. She stood up and sat next to Senku, grabbing a piece and took a bite. There was no flavor. But it's better than nothing. They ate in silence.

After they ate their fill they put the fire out and were now under the cover of the blanket, despite Kohaku taking minutes of hesitation at first. She was now facing the night sky. 

"Senku…" She whispered, wondering if he already went to sleep. She heard him mutter a 'hm'. 

She hesitated before asking, "Will we be able to bring the whole population back to its original state?" She waited for him to answer. She heard some rustling and saw that Senku was now facing the sky also.

"I'm ten billion percent sure we can. With the power of science and strength." He said, Kohaku looked at him without facing him. His brilliant red eyes were glittering from the stars, he was… beautiful.

"I can't wait for that day to come then, Senku." She whispered, smiling. She closed her eyes and let the tiredness overtake her.


	5. House!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kohaku and Senku begin with their house.

Kohaku's eyes fluttered open as the bright rays of the sun hit her eyes. She groaned, forcing herself up.

Wait… this wasn't her bed. It was hard and quite uncomfortable. She was close to panicking before the memories came flooding in. The loss of modern humanity, petrification, awakening 3715 years later, everything. She sighed and stood up, Senku wasn't next to her, sleeping like she kind of expected him to be. She adjusted the dress she had on and walked to the fire pit they had last night. She saw chopped logs near her, surprised, did Senku do this while she slept? But she couldn't see Senku anywhere. She looked around, occasionally taking glances at the plants below her.

Maybe I could search for plants that would be good for eating while he's doing whatever he is doing. She thought, grabbing a mushroom. She had no idea if it was edible or not, and she wasn't taking the chances on trying it to see if it's poisonous or not. She continued picking random plants up, placing them next to the fire pit when she couldn't carry anymore and searched for more.

Around 25 minutes passed and she had a huge pile of different types of plants, she stood proudly and huffed before she heard the rustling of leaves and turned around to see Senku carrying meat pieces and… was wearing actual clothes, she blushed fiercely seeing how different he looked and surprisingly increasing his handsome-ness even if it was a scrap of clothing, she let her thoughts wander off but then snapped back to reality when something was thrown in front of her. They were shoes, and they looked identical to Senku's.

"I used the extra deer skin to make them and make the extra blanket." She heard in between huffs. Kohaku looked up and saw that he was very out of breath and was sweating like a madman. She quickly rushed to grab the meat, watching Senku faint on the floor.

"How'd you get this deer?" She let her thoughts out loud, setting the deer meat down to the mats to help Senku up. He huffed and cracked his neck. "Created traps to make hunting easier. Too much time taken to hunt one prey at a time." He recovered, stood up and walked to the logs to grab an ax.

Must've been what he was working on yesterday. Kohaku thought, curiously looking at Senku do his work. He looked at her and smirked, "we'll be immediately start building the house now, the sooner we start, the sooner we get to be inside a safe spot, away from predators we ten billion percent can't defect even with your brute strength, lioness." He walked to the tree and brought the ax to his shoulder, and then slammed the ax into the bark of the tree. He pulled out and slammed it back in, cutting past the bark. Kohaku bit her tongue by the nickname, but forced a smile.

"I can do that if you want Senku, you can check those plants if they're good for eating while I do the tree cutting." Kohaku suggested and pried closer to Senku, who stopped to listen to her. He put his free hand on his chin, thinking. He then looked at her, "Go ahead then." He handed the ax to her and went on ahead to check what plants were edible and which were not. Kohaku stared at the ax before swinging it to the tree, she worked effectively and quick and watched as the tree went crashing down.

"Timber!" She smiled brightly, she walked forward and chopped the big pieces of branches and removed the leaves with the ax.

"Great job Lioness! Now make them into blocks." Kohaku stopped when she heard blocks.

"Blocks?" She asked, confused. She heard Senku chuckle.

"Minecraft style." He said. Kohaku sputtered, "this isn't a game!" She chopped the wood into long pieces in anger and ignored Senku's laughter.

"Adding some humor to our day will cause your brain to release endorphins, oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine and will make you more energetic and enthusiastic to work. Therefore will help you with your tree cutting process." Senku explained after having his laughter die out.

So he WANTS me to have more energy so he could pull out lame jokes. How charming. Kohaku thought bitterly, pouting. She continued on until she noticed she already had finished. He was right!!!

"Great. Now we can plan the layout of the base of the house. We could start with a ladder." Senku grabbed the chopped wood pieces and examined them. "Would be great to create latex paint to make these pieces more durable. But these'll do. We can make the paint later on." He said, taking some pieces to the tree he planned on building the house.

Senku walked back and grabbed two sets of long ropes and started to make a ladder out of both of the ropes by making an S and then doing a bunch a tying that Kohaku lost track in what he was doing. He worked step by step, stopping once the ladder looked long enough to reach the thickest branch of the tree.

"Kohaku." He stared straight into her eyes, all serious. She grew red-faced. "Yes Mr. I- Senku!" Dang, she almost called him his old formal name of pure nervousness. He held out a noose.

"Throw this to the thickest branch of this tree, this will be our ladder in the meantime." He pointed at a branch that was pretty far up, Kohaku calmed down and smirked.

"I've got this, Senku." She grabbed the noose and threw it on the edge of the branch, walking carefully closer to the tree to move the rope, she pulled on the rope once she reached the base of the branch, tightening the rope's hold on the branch. She turned to Senku who was giving her a thumbs up.

"Now let's make the prints on the ground since we don't have paper and it'll be a hassle to make at the moment since we don't have any heating materials." He grabbed a stick and started to make the house layout on the ground. There was a lot of squares, arrows, numbers and equations and too much information for Kohaku to understand. After 30 minutes, Senku was done.

"I made some steps for you to understand this better. This house should be finished by a week and a half if we worked efficiently and uninterrupted, not that we would be by any case." Senku said, thinking for a moment. Kohaku studied the blueprint on the ground, remembering each step.

"We could make clay pots to help us with transportation and placement." Senku said, Kohaku looked at him.

"How? We don't even have the materials to make clay." She said, thinking of what's used in making clay. Senku sighed, "Mother Nature already provides us the clay. We just need to find it." He said, rubbing his chin. She gasped, just noticing the cracks that were on his cheeks and a little above his eyebrows. Was those there yesterday?

"I just noticed that you have cracks on your face Senku!" She exclaimed in shock. She's been observing him (not too much obviously) but she was completely oblivious of the cracks that were added onto his face. Senku stared at her in disbelief.

"I've noticed yours since yesterday, Lioness. Maybe the panic in being in a new world made you ignore some details." He gave her a stern look. "I have one too?! Is it identical to yours?" She asked, feeling her face on the same spots that Senku has his cracks.

"No. Yours are on both your cheeks. They're lightning shaped." Senku traced an imaginary lightning shaped scar on his own cheeks. Kohaku was shocked.

"How did this happen? How do you know where yours are at? Why did this happen-" She was interrupted by Senku's loud yawn.

"One, its due to the petrification. Two, saw myself on the reflection by the river. Three, still working on finding that answer." He cracked the back of his head. He stood up, "that's nothing to worry about though, what we should be worrying about is the materials for the house." Senku said.

"Since we don't have modern tools to make our comfortable modern houses, we'll need to make a good old primitive house. We need clay to be able to somehow preserve our food and maybe even use it to serve the house for anything. We also need more trees and branches and maybe some bamboo to hold the roof. Tall grass can be used as roofing." He explained, closing his eyes and sighed. "Kohaku, you'll be working on tree cutting and I'll search for clay-" Kohaku nodded, too excited for the house to hear the rest of Senku's orders and walked to the next tree, quickly working.

"Ah ah. We need to eat first." Senku steps were right behind her, making her stop.

"Yeah, I guess food is first." She sighed and left the ax where she had hit the tree. They cooked the meat and waited, Senku told her to just work on chopping while the meat cooked.

We need to eat first, he said. It's not even ready… Kohaku bit her lip, not saying anything while she chopped the tree. She wiped the sweat that was going down her forehead.

"Having another set of hands will be very helpful for this. But who knows when the next person will awaken?" Kohaku sighed. Senku heard and chuckled, "maybe later we can make a quicker way to depetrify people, once we have proper survival equipment. For now you'll have to deal with the two of us." He said, scratching behind his ear. Kohaku stayed quiet, silently agreeing with him as she continued chopping.

Senku called out after 25 minutes that the food was ready, Kohaku watched the tree fall, then she clapped her hands together and headed toward Senku, who handed her the crisp meat and cooked mushrooms and ate. They had small talk about the house and who'll they'll be reviving next if they ever find a formula.

"Taiju would be a good person to choose, he's a musclehead, perfect for building or hauling stuff. He was nearest to my building when the petrification happened." Senku said after taking a big bite out of the meat.

"Really?" Kohaku paused, "why was he nearby?" She asked. Senku looked to his side, he had an empty expression.

"He was one of the few coworkers that I mentioned that brought me the petrified swallows. Him and his girlfriend Yuziruha." Senku said. Kohaku beamed, "So they could be nearby! It's strange that I haven't spotted them but they're probably hidden in between trees or something!" Kohaku didn't know Taiju that well, but they did talk sometimes when he was visiting Senku and she had to admit, he was loud but fun to hang around with. His girlfriend, Yuziruha, was one of her acquaintances from college. So she knew her to some extent. She saw Senku close his eyes.

"Or they could be buried. Who knows how deep. The years that passed by definitely changed the surface." He muttered, biting the meat and chewed quietly. Kohaku deflated. That was a possibility. It could be that half of the human population could be buried underground, but they were unaware. They were somehow lucky enough to even be above surface.. Then an irrelevant thought surfaced Kohaku's head.

"Why did you hold me when the green light appeared?" She asked, Senku stopped eating.

He shrugged, "no reason at all. Human's first instinct when facing danger is to do anything. I just held you cause you would probably have a freak out or something." He said, and continued eating. She stared at him, obviously not believing him, but she also went on with her eating.

Once they had both finished their meals, they went straight to work, Senku has already left off to his journey to find clay and Kohaku was now alone, finishing on what she was doing. She swiftly made the wood into pieces and repeated the process from her first try.

An hour and a half has passed and she has chopped and refined 4 trees total. This should be enough for the house. She thought. She set the ax on the ground and hauled pieces and walked to the tree, she then realized something.

"I should probably check if the ladder is safe to climb." Once she set the pieces by the trunk. She noticed that the tree wasn't that tall, and that the spot Senku chose was at least 10 feet high, but it was safer to be a little above ground then be on the open space, completely exposed to predators. She pulled the rope down, checking it's durability first. Once she did, she sets one foot on the first step and pulled herself up, being careful on climbing up. Once she reached the top, she looked around. She was able to see the rest of nature, birds fluttering away, tall mountains, blue sky. She smiled, relishing the nature, she went down the ladder and grabbed some thick branches from the floor and went up again. She set them on the base of the branch and went for more, once it couldn't fit anymore, she went for rope. She looked down at the diagram that Senku wrote, reading what the first step is.

"Set the bigger wooden poles on two thick branches on the tree, use the ax to create gaps in the branches to place the smaller thinner branches." She muttered, she took hold of the ax and did what the instructions said. She made gaps and then set them down in rows careful not to trip and fall to the ground. Once she set the bigger wooden poles down, she tied them together with the tree’s branches with rope that Senku thankfully gave her before he left. She grabbed thinner wooden poles and placed them in the gaps she created on the bigger wooden poles. She tied them together and checked on the other knots to see if they were tight enough. Once she confirmed they were tight enough, she went down once again.

She went to check what step 2 was, “once you finish step one, get two thick wooden poles, stand them on the ground, make sure they’re tilted, then tie them to the ends of the thicker poles on top. That will be the legs for stability.” She read, she grabbed two of the woods and set one on the ground, she tilted the one she held, she paused.

“I don’t think I can do this part myself. Someone will have to be holding the bottom so I can tie the top.” She commented under her breath, setting the wood she held on the ground. She walked to the set of instructions and saw some written words next to step two.

(If you can’t do this one, wait for me to come back, try to find straw around, take a spear and a knife with you.) It said. Kohaku nodded to herself and looked at the construction she has done so far.

“At least the floor is done. We might finish sooner than he thought.” Kohaku whispered, glad that she at least finished some part of the house. She quickly started to search for straw. Spear, knife, and rope on her hips, she went alongside the river. She knew that straw can be found in wet spots, so maybe she will find some here. She walked for a few more minutes and found a field of just she was looking for. She ran to it and crouched, trimming on the bottom of the plant with her knife. She cut an armful of straw and tied it with rope, tossing it near her. She went on and snipped more straw.

Once she had two sets, she held them and strolled back to camp. She dumped the straw near the wood and sat down, scratching her arms, itchy from carrying the plant. She gazed around, searched to do something else while waiting for Senku’s arrival. She decided to make a straw basket, for better transportation. She finished after half an hour, she was now getting impatient with Senku’s arrival.

“Senku’s taking an awful long time.” She whispered, stretching her limbs. He has been gone for at least 3 hours and a half now, she was getting quite worried. But she knew that Senku could get himself out of situations with his smart thinking. She walked around, taking a different route than she had been just getting used to, she passed by a bush of grapes. She stopped and stared at them.

“We could use these grapes to eat!” She ran back to the camp and grabbed the basket, rushing back to the bush. She picked one grape out and plopped it in her mouth, chewing it. Her face turned sour.

Definitely not this! Her lips puckered out of sourness and spat the grape out, gagging a bit. She stared at the rest of the grapes that rest on their thin branches.

Maybe I just chose the wrong one, one that wasn’t ripe. She thought, she picked out grapes, checking their condition, and tossing them into the basket. Once the basket was full, she took it back to camp setting the basket by the plants she had chosen earlier.

“Senku’ll know what to do with them.” She said, dusting her hands. She yawned, feeling quite tired. She didn’t have anything else to do, so she could take a nap while she waited for Senku’s return… She walked to the makeshift bed, setting herself on it. She laid down and closed her eyes, fatigue winning over her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole chapter was more on building and searching than character progress, so it was quite boring. But I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. House! pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Senku and Kohaku continue with building the house.

Screams. That's all Kohaku could hear.

Where am I? 

All of a sudden I can’t move…

What's happening? 

Cant… Speak?

Help!

Mom! Dad…? Help…

Don't want to die… don't want to die…

I don't want to die!!!

She heard a voice and Kohaku burst herself awake, she was sweating and panting heavily. She looked at her side and saw Senku sat near her, who scooted away a bit, smirking at her.

"Did you have a nightmare?" He asked, massaging his neck. Kohaku breathed out, "no. It was more of visual audio." She spread her arms out and stretched. She stayed silent and glanced at Senku who was just… looking at her. She bit her lip. She didn’t really want to talk about it… whatever she ever had. Then she coughed to remove the silence that had arisen.

“Anyway- how long were you gone? It was for about three hours that you were gone when I fell asleep.” She stood up and also helped Senku stand up. 

"Five hours at most. I found the clay and brought them in piles so I don't have to walk back and forth just to bring more here." Senku pointed behind him, Kohaku looked ahead of him. There were three big blobs of clay, she walked towards them and touched them, still moist. 

"I'm surprised. How'd you even manage to bring them over here?" She asked, picking one of the three blobs to test the weight. It was quite heavy. She heard Senku groan.

"I carried them one by one, I carried one far enough and left it there with a large enough leaf to get the other, just the repeating process of walking back and forth with the clay. Took almost an hour and a half just to get here." He said. Kohaku couldn't help but chuckle. She turned around and waited for Senku to say something else, only to be greeted with more silence. She sweatdropped, looking around, thinking of something to say.

"What do we do now?" Kohaku asked, glancing at the small work she has done on the house. She then remembered step two from Senku's instructions. She walked closer to him and faced him, she held his hand and led him to the two big logs.

"I almost forgot! Step two is one that I needed help on, I can't hold the wood and tie them onto the top at the same time." She explained to Senku, pointing at the instructions that were written on the ground near them. He nodded, "I was ten billion percent sure you wouldn't be able to do that step, so you can hold the logs while I do the tying. First I need to check on the work that you've done above. Can't have the floor collapse while we're on it." He said, examining the floor. They stood by each other, staring at the written instructions.

"But to do that, I'll need you to let go of my hand, Kohaku." He finished, pointing at the intertwined hands with his other hand. Kohaku looked down and quickly let go. 

"Sorry." She sputtered. She watched him climb the ladder with confidence that it won't rip. He reached the top and immediately began to look for any mistakes or chipped parts. He took 10 minutes before he leaned forward and gave a thumbs up at her.

"You did great! We can start with the legs now, I have rope here." He said, revealing four 3 meter ropes that he had created over the course of time she had slept, well she guessed. Kohaku grabbed one of the logs and stood it up, the deep cut of the wood was facing up and she leaned it towards Senku and kept it in place. She waited as Senku quickly and efficiently tied the rope and log to the thick branch. Once he finished he signaled her and she quickly went for the next log. They did the same process for the next five minutes.

"We got the two done. Now we won't need to worry about the floor breaking off while we work." Senku said, observing the legs to make sure they aren't loose. While he was doing that, Kohaku went ahead and sat crisscrossed, watching Senku do his inspection. She then averted her eyes from him and the basket that was full of grapes. 

"Hey, while you were gone Senku, I found the straw and made some baskets of it. I found grapes and maybe we can make some use of it?" Kohaku asked, pointed ahead of her where the basket stood. Senku studied them, thinking.

“Well we don't have much use of it right now-” He stopped, widening his eyes. Kohaku also widened her eyes to play along.

“Kohaku quick- What can you make with grapes with the least amount of ingredients? 10 billion points if answered correctly.” He asked, turning around at the speed of sound to face her. She quickly thought.

“Jelly!” Kohaku exclaimed, positive she was correct.

“Wrong.” He deadpanned. She stared at him.

“I thought I taught you better than that my dear lioness.” He tsked and clicked his tongue, shaking his head. Kohaku internally screamed but kept quiet.

"You can make alcohol," Senku said, picking a grape from the basket and plopping them in his mouth.

"What do we even need alcohol for? You can't drink until you're 21, Senku." Kohaku said, folding her arms.

"Technically I'm not 19 anymore, and neither are you. We both are now 3734 years old." He said, scratching his ear. Kohaku sighed, “and now that laws don’t exist in this world gives us the right to do whatever we want? I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re thinking.” She said.

“Exactly.” He retorted, smirking. “We can do whatever we want, there is no laws, no restrictions, police, government, cameras, nothing. This is true freedom.” He spread his arms, relishing on the air fanning on his face. 

“Alright, Tarzan, so what exactly do we need alcohol for?” Kohaku asked, chuckling at Senku’s stance. He retreated from his position and sat next to her, “You’ll see when I finish making the alcohol. Although we do need to finish the house before we go on with experimenting.” He placed his hand on his cheek, pondering on the architecture of the walls. 

“Let’s start with the walls, then we can just add leaves for the roof. We don’t need an extravagant looking house by any means.” Senku said, he stood up and went to get some wood sticks and clay. Kohaku followed him, grabbing clay and plopping it onto a boulder.

“We are going to use the clay as a replacement for plywood since we definitely do not have anything to smoothen the wood.” Senku went up the rope ladder, “Hand me the wood and throw the clay up- actually no.” He went down again and grabbed the clay, carefully going back up. 

“Just hand the wood, I should have enough rope to make two walls.” He said. Kohaku saluted.

“Yes, sir!” She halted, looked up, and saw Senku looking at her in a deadpan expression. She smiled and retreated, grabbing the wood and propping it upward. She felt her arms get lighter and went to get the next one. They repeated the process until the second wall has been built.

It was now evening, Senku went down and stretched.

“Guess we should eat and continue tomorrow, we can make more rope, and perhaps get somewhere with the petrification.” He scratched his ear and walked toward the charred spot on the ground, dumped some wood, and got to work with the fire. Kohaku got the covered smoked deer meat from a boulder and placed it near Senku, and helped him with the fire.


	7. Revival Fluid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Senku and Kohaku have found the solution to the revival fluid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting in such a long time! I honestly got very lazy with the story and also have to focus on school. But now I decided to pick up on this again. I'm not abandoning this fic just cause of some laziness, nope. Anyways, my update schedule is probably going to be at random times, considering that I suck with my own schedules. Anyways, on to the chapter! Enjoy!

Three months have passed since the start of the construction of Kohaku and Senku’s home. Three grueling months of building, resupplying, and overall surviving. Senku dusted his hands off and stood proudly below the structure.

“Here we have it, Lioness. We have completed the first step towards recovering our civilization.” He said, looking over to a tired but elated Kohaku.

“Finally I can take a well-deserved break! Am I free to go today Senku?” Kohaku said, beaming over the fact that they now have a well-sheltered home base.

“Yeah go ahead, I have some research to do anyways.” Senku waved her off, sauntering over to his laboratory. They somehow managed to build that lab for Senku’s experiments and research. Kohaku nodded and skipped over to their makeshift food storage.

Might as well make a celebratory meal for this accomplishment. She thought, taking out different assortments of meat, herbs, and spices that Senku himself prepped up. She briefly prepared a meal for the both of them and put the bowl in the underground storage for marination. She started a fire and sat near the pit, watching the smoke and flames rise. Kohaku gazed her eyes towards the lab and watched as Senku examined a certain pot of wine.

It must be ready for whatever antics he’s up to. She pondered, resting her chin on her knees. They started on the wine project over three weeks ago. Senku told her that the liquid would need to “mature” for it to convert into alcohol. She sighed and looked down at her hands. They were quite dry and a bit rough to the touch, but they were somehow overall soft.

Three months have passed. Almost four since she and Senku have been released from that horrible void that was the petrification. Over those three and a half months, things have been going over smoothly, other than the over-excessive amount of work both her and Senku have been doing. Kohaku looked back towards Senku and saw that he was scratching his head as he looked down at a cup with what Kohaku assumed was the wine. She decided to stand up and walk over to him.

“What seems to be the problem, Senku? I see that look of uncertainty from the fire pit.” She teased. Senku ceased from his conflict with the cup and smirked.

“Why don’t you give it a try Lioness?” He passed the cup to her and stood by. She glanced at the cup and him. She shrugged and gave it a sip.

Well… It certainly tasted like wine. But something was off.

“It still needs to go through the process of distillation, it refines the wine and increases the concentration of the wine, thus making it more strong alcohol-wise.” He explained as if he read her mind.

“I see.” Kohaku shook the cup slightly and gave it another sip. 

The wine was quite easy to make now that she thought about it, all she had to do is crush the grapes and mix the liquid every day to get it where it's at now. How hard could distillation be?

…

Distilling the wine was NOT easy.

They made a huge weird-shaped pot with a tube sticking out, a bowl-like shape on top that was full of water, all made with clay. Senku called this weird looking vessel distillation earthenware. They were both fairly confident it would hold, so they dumped half of a bucket of wine onto the pot. But upon heating, there was a crack in the pot and it broke into pieces, spilling the wine all over the ground. This left an exasperated Senku and a stressed-out Kohaku. They built a firmer one, checking thoroughly for any cracks. They didn’t find any and hoped that it wouldn’t break like the last. Thankfully, it held its ground, and they went on with their day with work.

Eventually, Fall arrived. Both Senku and Kohaku were preparing for winter. Senku looked down at the pot, contemplating. Kohaku noticed and patted his back, reassuring him. They both have been keeping an eye out on it, watching out for the fire, changing cups, checking for any breakage. There was no trouble with the wine and things have been good since their first attempt.

It was now the middle of winter. Kohaku walked out of a frozen lake, fish on one hand, and spear in another. She trudged towards their home and dropped the fish onto the storage upon arrival. She placed her spear on weaponry she made near a tree. She let out a puff of air and gazed as the fog quickly dissipated into the chilly air. She then went to help Senku with any troubles he had with carrying. It continued like this.

Then Spring came.

Senku wiped his forehead, staring down on a row of purified wine, now stronger in alcohol percentage.

“So, this is the finished product?” Kohaku questioned, picking one of the numbered cups.

“Yep, we’ve made alcohol.” Senku stretched his arms upwards, grabbed a huge lid, and walked out. Kohaku accompanied him with no words. He led her and found themselves back in the very cave where they had been freed from the petrified prison.

They entered the dull cave and Kohaku blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the dimness of the cave. Senku trudged towards the middle of the cave, picking up a huge pot of a strange substance. He shook and quickly Kohaku was by him, taking the pot to herself. She took a closer inspection of the liquid and noticed it was quite yellow.

Before she could ask what it was,” it’s nitric acid.” He murmured. She was taken aback. 

“Nitric acid?!” She looked up and took notice of the slumbering bats.

“You know how the nitric acid is made here, right Kohaku?” Senku questions, closing the pot with a lid he had brought along with him. She scoffed mentally, of course, she knew how it was made, but considering it was made in a cave, she’ll have to think more. She did work under Senku before all this.

“This acid is made with bat guano, if the cave is moist, the guano layer is also kept moist. So naturally, nitrifying bacteria can process the ammonia in the guano into nitric acid. The droppings are then falling onto the ground. But knowing that this type of acid from this cave won’t last long, there has to be some type of alkaline minerals in here.” Kohaku explained, inspecting the roof of the cave more closely.

“Correct you are, which is why we need to work on this now.” Senku ushered Kohaku out of the cave and the two of them head back towards the lab. Senku quickly got to work and took some other small jars.

“These are other jars that I’ve been mixing around with the acid and alcohol. So far I haven’t tested them out. Each of them has a different amount of acid and alcohol. This one,” he raised a cup numbered ‘6’, ”will be the one I will be mixing about 30 percent nitric acid and 70 percent alcohol, if it doesn’t work, we still have more time to make more attempts, it’s all trial and error.” He worked on the mixture, being as precise as possible. Once he was clear on the amount, he closed the jar and breathed out. Kohaku finally decided to ask.

“This is probably not the best time to ask, but what exactly are you making?” She wondered, Senku stared at her. She quickly became flustered, “n-neverm-” 

“I’ve worked on this project since before we’ve gotten petrified. I’ve conducted experiments on the swallows and their feathers, you could say that with this recipe, or chemical to be more precise, has been in my list of experiments. I’ve been thinking that somehow our bodies couldn’t have been revived based on sheer power alone, so I’m considering that the nitric acid in the cave had an aid with the revival, and will be using it to our advantage.” He explained, cracking his neck. Kohaku understood. So staying awake somehow worked in her favor in being free? She wondered if other people fought to stay awake just like she and Senku did but eventually gave up, losing hope of ever being freed. She shook those thoughts away, she didn’t need to think of the negatives. She huffed and then wondered.

“Then why do we need alcohol if we already have the nitric acid?” She asked. Senku chuckled.  
“If it took us 3700 years just to wake up with the cave’s nitric acid, we’ll be dead before we use that solution on one single person.” He said, grabbing one of the numbered cups and presenting it to her.

“As to answer your alcohol question, we need it to mix it with the nitric acid to make nital. It’s a stronger corrosive solvent used for etching among other industrial uses.” He said, placing the cup back on the table. Something in Kohaku’s head clicked.

“I get it! We’re using nital to make a quicker solution of depetrifying the swallows and humans?” She exclaimed, now getting exactly what he meant.

“Yep, and with the numbered cups we have here with different percentages of each element, we can pour some onto the petrified feathers and swallows and see if one of them is the one we exactly need.” Senku then proceeded to hand Kohaku cup 1 and 2. He took cups 3 and 4, they separately poured the cups on different petrified feathers. So far, cups 1 and 2 didn’t work. Kohaku looked over at Senku and saw his disappointed expression at cups 3 and 4. Guess 3 and 4 were a no-go. Senku stood up from the ground and got cups 5 and 6. Kohaku got 6 while Senku stayed with 5. She walked back to her boulder and breathed out. 

Please please please let this be the one, it's been a year now since we’ve been freed. Give others the chance to find this new world. She thought, looking up at the sky. She hoped. She poured the liquid onto the petrified and waited…

And waited…

She was close to giving up, she stood up to report to Senku before she heard a crack. Then she heard another. She looked back. Her eyes widened.

Before her eyes, was a beautiful feather that has sprouted out of the dull now shattered stone. She couldn’t believe it.

“I- the- Senku-” She turned back in disbelief. Senku was already behind her, looking over her, his own eyes widened. His red eyes went to her blue ones.

“Looks like we’ve done it, Lioness. We’ve created revival fluid.” His voice sounded like it was wavering, but he stood ground. Kohaku herself felt like crying, but she had to confirm her suspicions, it could’ve only worked on the feathers. So quickly she grabbed a swallow from the lab and placed it in front of her. She got the cup she was holding not long ago and poured some onto the bird. Then she waited. 

A few moments later she heard those same cracks, confirming her suspicions, it worked on living things too. Before she could speak her thoughts out, the now freed swallow burst from the stone, flew high into the sky, before soaring towards the wilderness, never to be seen again.  
She really couldn’t believe it. 

Senku was smirking proudly, he was just about to head back into his lab and write down his discovery and the exact formula of the fluid before he was knocked down onto the ground. He groaned in pain and looked above him. Kohaku was on top of him, she was crying and sniffling. Before he could say anything to protest, she dropped herself and hugged him. His hands were above her, not knowing what to make of this situation. He looked down, her head and hands were on his chest. He could hear sobs and whimpers. 

“You kept your word Senku. You found the solution to free humanity. You and I could see our friends and family again… Thank you so much. Thank you...” She sobbed and looked up to meet his eyes. But when she mentioned family, he kept silent. He briefly wondered about his step-father and his whereabouts, but he quickly snapped back to reality and looked at the woman on him.

What was he meant to say in this situation? Senku was honestly panicking, here above him was his past secretary plus assistant crying and thanking him. He doesn’t think science could give him a solution to this. So he thought of the most plausible thing to say.

“This couldn't have been possible if you haven’t found those grapes, Kohaku.” He said, doing his best of comforting her by placing his hand on her back, he could feel her shaking. He patted her back for a few seconds. She stilled.

She sat up and was now sitting on his lap. Senku started to panic slightly more. Kohaku wiped her tears away and smiled.

“We both know this was all you Senku. If I were to be in this world alone, I would have never progressed this far. I would have probably taken my own life due to the solitude of being truly alone. You kept me going, and made this all possible. You will have my loyalty until death takes me.” She studied his wide crimson eyes, which seemed to have softened a bit. She was so grateful to this man. He has helped her out of so many situations, he was the light to her darkness. She needed him. But she knew that deep down, he only saw her as an assistant and assistant alone. She could never have the happiness she oh so craved to have with him. So she decided that perhaps pursuing him at this time is not a good plan. She will bottle these feelings up and stay by his side, as his assistant. 

After she had stopped crying, she got off of him and dusted her knees off of dirt. She then helped him back up his feet and let out an embarrassed sigh. 

“Sorry for that little outburst I had, I had my emotions get the best of me,” Kohaku said. She focused her gaze at Senku, who was looking at the laboratory, back facing her.

“It’s alright, you just caught me off guard,” Senku responded, coughing slightly.  
“Is there anything else that you need me to do?” Kohaku offered, she kinda wanted to get away from him, too embarrassed to be by his side at the moment.

“You can go ahead and do what you want. Tomorrow we can decide who to revive.” He said, plodding back towards his lab. She stood and watched before he disappeared from her sight. She went along her way, maybe she should take a quick bath at the river.

Senku went out and peeked as Kohaku went her way to where she was going. He was silent and went back inside his lab. He slowly put a hand to his chest and breathed out. He then raised the same hand and cupped his face. He was blushing feverishly.

“Kohaku…” He whispered. This was a first and he didn’t know what to feel. Her words have sparked something in him. The sudden hug and touch surprised him too. He’d heard her thank him plenty of times before, but this one has hit a chord, hard. He didn’t know how to deal with these feelings and was confused. He quickly thought out that these feelings shouldn’t distract him from his goals. So he pushed those conflicting emotions and continued with his notes.

Tomorrow was going to be a new and exhilarating day.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's so shorrtttttt the next chapter will be longer


End file.
